Category: US Perspectives on Protestantism in Zaire

The CIA Directorate of Intelligence identifies Liberation Theology as a “contemporary Catholic religious doctrine espoused in the Third World,” with Marxist roots, which is “openly anti-west and identifies the United States as responsible for the exploitation of the Third World.” ¹ The document also perceives the threat of Liberation Theology as a target for communist (namely Soviet and Cuban) exploitation, and a catalyst to a dangerous collaboration of certain churches with Marxist revolutionaries, giving legitimacy to guerilla movements, impeding US efforts to contain them. ² Although the article focuses on Latin American and Pacific examples, it is still relevant to Zaire and identifies Zaire as a place where the Church provides educational and medical services not offered by the government. ³ This report is consistent with the 1973 National Intelligence Survey, which emphasizes the central role of the Church in providing these services where the state falls short. The report identifies churches that assume the role of the government by providing social services as an indicator of Liberation Theology.  

If the United States saw the Catholic church in Zaire as a source of Liberation Theology, their evangelizing efforts had an added dimension; not only were they trying to spread Christianity as a defense against communism, they also found protestant Christianity to be an alternative to dangerous anti-western ideas that might come from Catholic churches in Zaire. Whereas Catholicism posed the threat of Liberation Theology and the guerrilla revolts that may come with it, the Protestant churches aligned with Mobutu’s project of cultural nationalism, therefore reinforcing the legitimacy of his US-backed regime. 

By observing the US’ outlook on the developments in Protestantism from the perspective of fundamentalist missionaries, who saw the consolidation of Protestant denominations into one common administration as a dangerous theological error which would give liberals too much power, it is easy to get an oversimplified understanding of US religious objectives in Congo. A more accurate view is achieved when considering a disconnect between the ideological arguments of the fundamentalists and the interests of the US government, most importantly in preventing communism and Liberation Theology from taking root in Congo so as to protect their economic interests. Philpot, who cooperated with Makanzu’s African and nationalist requirements for his evangelizing crusade in 1978, is an example of prioritizing the spread of Protestant Christianity as a deterrent to Communism over theological disputes. This interaction demonstrates the ways in which the ECZ’s strong emphasis on cultural nationalism as a way of regaining Congolese identity was an instrumental part of Mobutu’s authenticité campaign, as well as an instrumental factor in protecting US economic interests in the Congo.

“Ford Philpot,” Asbury University, Wilmore, KY https://www.asbury.edu/academics/resources/library/archives/biographies/ford-philpot/

Garrard, David J. “The Protestant Church in Congo: The Mobutu Years and their Impact.” In  Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol. 43, Fasc. 2 (2013): 131-166. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43303265

“Liberation Theology: Religion, Reform and Revolution.” 21 Apr 1986. CIA FOIA Reading Room (released 2011). https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP97R00694R000600050001-9.pdf

Rich, Jeremy. “Zaire for Jesus: Ford Philpot’s Evangelical Crusades in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 1966-1978.” In Journal of Religion in Africa, Vol. 43, Fasc. 1 (2013): 4-28.  https://www.jstor.org/stable/43303256

Rich, Jeremy. “From Jean-Perce Makanzu to Makanzu Mavumilusa: An Evangelical Protestant Leader in Mobutu’s Congo, 1960–1980.” In Journal of Africana Religions, Vol. 4, No. 1 (2016): 76-103. University Park, Penn State University Press, 2016. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/jafrireli.4.1.0076

“Zaire; The Society.” In National Intelligence Survey 60A, (1973): 26-30. CIA FOIA Reading Room (released 2009). https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110005-8.pdf

By listening to this clip of Philpot’s preaching, it is easy to see how his emotional and passionate words could move many to join the evangelist movement in Zaire. This recording is from five years before Philpot’s first crusade in Zaire, and his evangelizing mission to convert non-Christians is already apparent, ending the passionate message with a call to “help the unbeliever submit to Him.”⁶

This call prefaces Philpot’s history of evangelizing crusades in Zaire in the 1960s and 70s, but the motive for these crusades went deeper than a simple need to spread the gospel. Philpot establishes this in informing a potential donor that “The greatest thwart to Communism in [the DRC] is Christianity.”⁷ An article in the evangelical magazine Christianity Today echoed this call for US intervention in central Africa to prevent the spread of the red menace, further demonstrating the cold war influence on US Protestant evangelization tours in Africa in the 1960s and ’70s. ⁸ 

Makanzu Mavumilusa helped to organize Philpot’s evangelizing crusades in 1966, and 68, after which he praised Philpot as having done more to bring Congolese to Christ than other missionaries had done in years, graciously welcoming him back in 1978.⁹ However, Makanzu played a very different role in Philpot’s 1978 crusade, fully directing Philpot’s program, as well as requiring that his programming involved a Congolese choir. ¹⁰By taking on this dominant role in arranging Philpot’s crusade, he acted as an equal, welcoming Philpot as an honored guest but initiating their interaction as colleagues; Philpot’s crusade would be on Makanzu’s terms. ¹¹This way, Makanzu used Philpot’s crusades to contribute to the evangelization of the Congo outside of a missionary framework, instead operating as a part of an effort to spread a uniquely African brand of Christianity. This in turn contributed to legitimizing Mobutu’s reign because of its nationalist implications, as well as inhibiting the spread of communism.

This cold war dynamic of protecting liberal ideals and western economic interests abroad by interfering to stop the spread of communism figured heavily in both US support for Mobutu’s regime and US evangelizing crusades in Zaire. The influence of Protestantism as an alternative to the Catholic traditions, which historically were more prevalent in Congo, is important to note because it reflects the US’ fear of Liberation Theology, a concept based in Catholic practices that the CIA saw as a precursor to Communism.

The National Intelligence Survey outlines various religious practices in Zaire, focusing mainly on their interactions with the state and Mobutu’s project of authenticité. It begins with an overview of Catholicism in Zaire, outlining the significance of the welfare services provided which were absent from colonial government, and contribute to stability.¹¹ The Survey notes the recent sharp decline of Catholicism in Congo, demonstrated through the drop in religiously observed marriages, baptisms, and enrollments in seminaries, as well as large scale killings of nuns and priests in the 1964 rebellion.¹² The document takes these as signals that the Catholic organization in Congo, in its failure to change to align with Mobutu’s project of Africanization, became associated with the hated colonial administration.¹³ The Survey then goes on to address Protestantism in Zaire, which in comparison to Catholicism is much more receptive to Mobutu’s authenticité program, largely due to their success in recruiting Zairian priests and clergy compared to Catholic orders.¹⁴ It also mentions racial tensions and their role in the conflict over the consolidation of Protestant denominations into one central Church, noting the resistance to this development coming from white American fundamentalists.¹⁵ We can see from this document that the CIA’s interest in religious practices in Zaire is primarily around the ways in which different religious organizations interact with Mobutu’s government. They address differences in administrative systems and leadership between Catholics and Protestants, particularly after the formation of the ECZ in 1970; the authoritarian, nationalist system of the ECZ aligning much more closely with Mobutu’s authenticité.

The document primarily discusses which organizations are allowed greater privileges and weight in matters of government authority, how they are seen in the public eye, and what they provide in terms of welfare and education services to their communities. It is interesting to note that US interests almost completely left out of the analysis, only briefly mentioning missionaries, primarily around their expulsion from the country in the Simba revolts, and conservative American missionaries’ resistance to the nationalization of the Protestant Church. They do, however, highlight Mobutu’s personal relationship to the different religions, which could have implications for US interests as the US put him in power and continued to support his regime. This complicates our understanding of the US’ interaction with the ECZ as this religious organization was clearly in Mobutu’s favor as it promoted Congolese cultural nationalism in favor of western missionary control and division.¹⁶ However, the transition to the ECZ as a collective church that had a fairly centralized administration and little denominational freedom was widely opposed by US evangelical mission boards. ¹⁷

This discrepancy between the US hold on politics in Congo and the Africanization of religious organizations could show that although independence did not rid Congo of western influence in political and economic spheres, US missionary hold on the country was weakened during this period. Although Christianity, introduced by the colonial administration, remained a dominant religion in the region, it became increasingly dominated by African leadership and strayed from foreign missionary control. Ford Philpot’s crusades in Congo in the 1960s and 70s further demonstrate this shift, and reveal the changing nature of the relationship Protestant leaders maintained with foreign patrons.

The 1960s saw a huge amount of political upheaval in Congo, following independence in 1960 and the Simba revolts in 1964 and 1965.¹³ Not only did this political instability, coupled with dropping copper prices, weaken Congo’s economy, but it had effects in Congo’s religious communities as Mobutu tried to consolidate power by eliminating possible religious threats to his supreme rule.¹⁵ Consistent with Mobutu’s nationalist authenticité project, Protestant denominations banded together in 1969 to create one collective Eglise du Christ au Zaire.¹⁸ The creation of this unified Church served both to place the Protestant church within the domain of Mobutu’s rule, enforcing a brand of Protestantism that specified the degree to which African traditions were incorporated based on their usefulness to the nationalist program, as well as shifted the Church organization so that it no longer relied on missionary leadership.¹⁹

Due to a glaring lack of Congolese sources on the subject in American and British archive databases, I will primarily be investigating the US perspective on the consolidation of Protestant churches, evangelizing missions, and the phasing out of US and European missionary presence in Congo. This is largely shaped by US ties to Mobutu as well as cold war fears of communism spreading to Congo, largely associated with the Simba rebels in 1964.²⁰ Although the rebels only received aid from a small group of Cuban rebels, both US and officials and Protestant missionaries believed their revolt was funded and heavily influenced by Chinese and Soviet communist forces.²¹ The US saw the possibility of communism in the Congo as a serious threat to their economic interests there and viewed the spread of Protestantism in Congo as an effective way to protect their interests by combating communism as well as legitimizing Mobutu’s regime.